‘Not Legalizing Cannabis Is Hypocritical’

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 5: Writer and radio personality, Charlamagne attending God 2019 … [+] Forbes Healthcare Summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center on December 5, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ferdman / Getty Images)

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Though Charlamagne Tha God was never an avid cannabis user, he is the controversial co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show The Breakfast Club, television personality, actor, and best-selling author, who entered the cannabis industry.

“I’ve never been a real smoker. I don’t have many fond memories of smoking. It always lets my body go through the roof, ”he admits during an exclusive interview.

Charlamagne born Lenard Larry McKelvel has been very open about his struggles with anxiety and panic attacks lately. In this way, he seeks to combat the mental health stigma in America, especially among black communities. Shook One: Fear Is Trapping Me, his second book after Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Can, is related to the subject and reveals his personal traumas, regrets and fears.

In fact, McKelvel admits that he only survived 2020 because of all of his self-care work.

“I went to therapy and practiced meditation. I think a lot of people had to sit still and see each other for the first time last year and they didn’t like what they saw. That happened to me a few years ago so I started doing the work. You can’t run any further. You have to deal with the trauma, ”he urges. And it’s honest. C had to do his part of introspection, apology, and self-improvement.

God and evolution

As a teenager, Charlamagne liked weed for his relationship with rap and hip-hop.

“Every song was about smoking weeds in some form. The first time I smoked I was in high school in Moncks Corner, ”he recalls.

“Getting up was cool because I was young and didn’t have as much trauma and stuff as you do when you get older. I used to only do it in a recreational and social way. “

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However, things changed after he was first arrested and paroled. For him, smoking was just too scary: “Even before I was diagnosed with panic attacks, I gave them to me. I didn’t know what it was then, but the weeds made me super paranoid. “

So he left it alone for a long, long time.

The green wave

In recent years cannabis has become a mainstream product, a topic of discussion, and a major engine of the economy where it has been legalized. And with this mainstreaming of the plant came the realization of the myriad benefits medicinal marijuana has.

When Charlamagne tried to ride this wave, he found again that smoking was not good for him. It still triggered anxiety attacks.

Eventually he did some research and came across these good old foods.

“The food is beautiful. I do maybe 10 milligrams and have a glass of wine and be right where I need to be, ”admits McKelvel.

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And so the reconciliation came through. He was finally able to see marijuana from a completely different perspective.

“At that age I never thought I would start. But in any case, it’s great for me when I’m home on the weekends and have nothing to do, ”he says.

Wake up and bake

Charlamagne and his co-hosts Angela Yee and DJ Envy from The Breakfast Club interviewed a long list of big names, including Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the current President and Vice President of the United States – in case you don’t know who they are.

Charlamagne brought up the issue of cannabis, punctually questioning Biden about his promise to decriminalize marijuana instead of just legalizing the plant across the country. That promise has yet to be fulfilled as the executive turns out to be less cannabis-friendly than expected and Biden even calls on several White House employees to resign over past marijuana use.

After that experience, the radio host was skeptical about whether cannabis could be legalized at the federal level during Biden’s tenure. However, he hopes that legalization will happen sometime in the next decade.

“We have enough data to show that marijuana is non-addicting, non-lethal, and has many medicinal benefits. Not legalizing cannabis is hypocritical, ”he says.

“It also opens up a different industry and a different form of economic empowerment to people.”

From the people, for the people

The 42-year-old media personality recently got involved in the cannabis industry and became an advisor to CitizenGrown, a company whose motto is “cannabis from the people for the people”. Raekwon from the Wu Tang Clan is also invested in this company and was featured in this Forbes role.

With a unique business model, CitizenGrown provides households with automated cannabis grow kits that allow people to reap the rewards of this growing industry both literally and figuratively.

“I was there because it is a way of empowering not only black and brown people, but also those who are directly or indirectly affected by the war on drugs,” he explains.

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As it is, marijuana has become a great place to systematically reverse the effects of the war on drugs.

“If there was such a thing as drug war reparations, it would be very, very close to it,” he explains.

Deepa Sood, CEO of CitizenGrown, added: “We are in a kind of tide change in how we perceive cannabis. People like Charlamagne and Rae, people of such incredible influence who support our social justice approach to cannabis, show how public perception is changing for the better and how there is appetite and ability to get this right, grounding and changing people’s lives. ”

In addition, Charlamagne decided to support the community by launching The Black Effect Podcast Network, a service dedicated to promoting black culture and voices.

“I always want people to see the Black Effect Podcast Network on iHeartRadio. We have about 20 podcasts available, ”concludes the Radio Hall of Famer.